A World of Symbol

As Georges Gurvitch wrote, “we are convinced that symbols reveal themselves in hiding and hide in their revelation.” Symbols are an all-access key to penetrate and understand particular spheres. Some say we are not living in a world of symbols, but it is a world of symbols that is living with us.
However aware of how cryptic and chameleon symbols can be, we will still attempt to uncover the most pure meaning of each symbol before it assumes another shade and hides from us again.

The Fontana Maggiore, also known as Main Fountain, is like a book of stone that unfolds while walking around it.
It’s like a great clock that transcends both cosmic and earthly timetables.
Completed in 1278, the monument became the fulcrum of the Guelph Commune of Perugia, and therefore the symbol of the Platea Magna (latin term for[...]

In the cycle dedicated to the twelve months of the year, carved by Giovanni and Nicola Pisano in 1278 on he Main Fountain of Perugia, the month of May is represented by an uxor (latin term for wife) riding a horse and followed by an elegant medieval knight.
The lady of May is holding a hawk[...]

Very few people are aware of the mysterious Greek inscriptions that are found atop the columns, inside the Tempio Sant’Angelo in Perugia. These intriguing inscriptions are found inside of what is considered to be one of the finest early Christian churches in Italy.
The indipendent resercher Antonella Bazzoli is planning a series of articles in which[...]

Despite the lack of direct historical references about the history of Perugia in the early Christian age, we know that around the seventh century Perugia was part of the Byzantine state: a large Christian state that was based on the structure of the Exarchate, whose network of territories were defended by a specialized and multi-ethnic[...]

Wandering among the medieval villages of Italy, on occasion I have happened to notice a strange symbol carved on a stone, formed by three concentric squares and what epigraphists, iconologists and scholars of esotericism know as a Magic Square or Three Concentric Squares.
The three concentric squares, in fact, appear to represent three squares inside one[...]

A walk through the Romanesque vestiges of Spoleto necessarily passes by the church of San Pietro. Nothing remains of the original building, built in the fifth century on the site of an ancient cemetery. The original church was actually demolished in the twelfth century to make way for a new church in the[...]

Isis, wife of Osiris and mother of Horus, is also commonly associated with another ancient Egyptian deity named Hathor. This name, which literally means “house of Horus”, represents a symbolic lap for her son, who is also the son of Osiris.
Following suit of her many forms, Hathor was the goddess of love as well as[...]